Want to add M-Audio Sound Card to my G4

[Montano]

Should I go with the PCI internal card, or the USB external card .....and why ? Anyone have experience with M-Audio cards ?

[maximumjack]

i've had an M-audio Delta 66 sound card with an Omni breakout box for about 6 months, and have been very happy with it. It is installed in a Powermac quicksilver 733, and works seemlessly in both OS9 and OSX. The new M-Audio Firewire audio interface also looks very good....so i guess it comes down to whether you want an all in one product, or PCI / Breakout box combo...

[Montano]

I was looking at the Revolution 7.1 to go with my Logitech Z640 speakers. Not sure that I would need a breakout box ?

[alset]

Seriously consider FireWire or PCI. USB works, but it is prone to latency issues (this may not always be the case, but it happens).

I have heard plenty of negative reviews about M-Audio products and Macs. You may want to look into alternatives.

Dan

BTW - Don't be fooled by the 24-bit/96 kHz ads. These specs are great, but they may not make any difference in your rig. When you move a 24-bit/96 kHz recording to CD you will have to downsample/dither to standard 16-bit/44.1 kHz. It's like taking a super high-res photo with your digital camera and then compressing it as a JPEG to send it out on the web: it may work out really well, or it may be noticeably lower quality.

[maximumjack]

are you looking to do multi-track audio / midi recording, or are you just looking for a way to get surround sound out of your mac??

BTW...I have several M-Audio products, as have friends, and have not had any probs with them working with Macs

[tjwett]

If you have a PowerMac with slots then go for the PCI. It's cheaper and faster.

[Funkatation]

Here's a good review of the card...

http://www.techspot.com/reviews/hardware/revolution71/index.shtml

They stuck it in a PC, but should be the same experience for the mac.


Originally posted by alset
Seriously consider FireWire or PCI. USB works, but it is prone to latency issues (this may not always be the case, but it happens).

I have heard plenty of negative reviews about M-Audio products and Macs. You may want to look into alternatives.

Dan

BTW - Don't be fooled by the 24-bit/96 kHz ads. These specs are great, but they may not make any difference in your rig. When you move a 24-bit/96 kHz recording to CD you will have to downsample/dither to standard 16-bit/44.1 kHz. It's like taking a super high-res photo with your digital camera and then compressing it as a JPEG to send it out on the web: it may work out really well, or it may be noticeably lower quality.

[voyagerd]

I have the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 sound card. It works very well. I love it. It gets a better sample rate than the Sonica USB ones.

[andrewlandry]

i have the m-audio duo and the emi 6/2m, by eMagic. getting host applications to recognize the inputs on the duo has been unpredictable. that was true on my iBook and on my Powermac. (the hosts i had problems with were Logic and Peak.)

i have a feeling that the PCI versions would be a more solid choice at this point - in terms of performance and reliability.

[Montano]

Thanks !! I believe I will go with the Revolution PCI Card. I'm just looking to improve the sound quality, add surround, and be able to use my Logitech speakers.

[voyagerd]

I use logitech Z-560's with my Revolution!

[donigian]

I'd recommend internal if possible, but I have a question of my own: What audio cards are out there for the Mac? Is it possible to use the Audigy2 series (and, yes, I know, not the best, all the crap...)?

[springscansing]

PCI > USB.
Almost anything > Audigy2
Almost anything > M-Audio's drivers

That should clear things up, heh.

[donigian]

Originally posted by springscansing
PCI > USB.
Almost anything > Audigy2
Almost anything > M-Audio's drivers

That should clear things up, heh.

Proof?